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Imagine this…

You’re a freelance marketing consultant.

Because you watch a lot of YouTube videos relating to marketing, YouTube keeps recommending videos from an entrepreneur who promises to, “Help you build a 7-figure marketing agency in 9 months”.

You finally give in and watch one of her videos. While you hate to admit it, you actually really enjoy it.

Before you know it, you’re down the rabbit hole.

You’ve watched 6 more videos where she shares the backstory about how she went from a solo consultant to running a 50-person agency.

Each video starts the same way—with a personal story about a real challenge she faced while growing her agency. Then she shares tips on everything from client management software to getting more leads.

She plugs her course for new agency owners at the end of each video, but you ignore it.

You’re a freelancer—not an agency. You don’t need her course.

The next day, you wake up to an email from one of your freelance clients. They’re expanding and want you to work with two new companies they just acquired.

More work means more money, which is great. But your calendar is already jam-packed.

You can’t bring on these clients as a freelancer… but you could if you built a full-blown agency.

There’s just one problem: you don’t know how to run an agency.

Why are you suddenly considering buying the YouTuber’s course?

In today’s edition of Why We Buy, we’re taking a look at Storytelling – why great storytelling leads to more products selling.

Let’s get into it…

🧠 The Psychology of Storytelling

​A fact is over 20X more memorable if it’s wrapped in a story.

Stories captivate our attention.

They send us down the rabbit hole of consuming hours of YouTube content as we try to piece together the entirety of someone’s story (and the story behind how they built such a successful marketing agency).

When you’re listening to a good story, your brain waves literally start to synchronize with the storyteller, causing you to feel the emotions of the storyteller and putting you in a trance-like state.

Storytelling isn’t just marketing mumbo jumbo. It’s a science-backed persuasion technique.
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🧐 Inside Your Buyer’s Mind

If you tell a story well enough, potential buyers will emotionally connect with the character and try to predict what happens next.

They’ll develop empathy and affinity for you and your brand.

They’ll begin to envision themselves in the story, which makes your promise so much more compelling.

As Steve Jobs said, “the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.”
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🤑 How To Apply This

Alright, so how can we apply this right now to sell more?

Use open loops to keep people reading

An open loop “open loop” is a writing technique where you leave an unresolved question or tension in the reader’s mind.

Use open loops in your content to keep people reading and watching all the way through the end. At the end of your content, close the loop to relieve the tension and leave your audience feeling positive about your brand.

Dickie Bush starts this viral Twitter thread with an open loop…

He continues to entice people to keep reading by ending each tweet in the thread with another open loop, like:

• “Here’s what I mean:”
• “Here’s where it gets fun:”
• “This is 100% wrong–and Mr. Beast knows this” .. makes you think, “well, what’s right?”
• “Now here’s where it gets interesting:”
• “Link is at the end btw”

A word of caution: if you use open loops to keep people reading and don’t deliver the answers you promised, you’re just creating clickbait—and people hate clickbait.

Flaunt your flaws to be more likeable

Buyers like seeing the people behind the brand. They also like seeing your humanness, and humans are flawed.

Studies into the Pratfall Effect show that people don’t want picture perfect. They actually prefer for you to share your mistakes, challenges, and hard times. It makes you seem more relatable.

Peter Levels is one of the original “build in public” entrepreneurs.

He still practices building in public with his new project, PhotoAI.io. He shares the reality of working with AI – including when his own product fails to generate a realistic image.

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Collect buyer stories to understand trigger events

Telling stories in your marketing is powerful. But if you wanna tell stories that sell, collecting stories from your own buyers is key.

A “trigger event” is the moment a buyer first realizes they have a problem. It’s the moment of frustration that makes them think, “I need a solution.”

When you learn your customers’ trigger events, you can craft high-converting offers that get them reaching for their wallets.

I learned that one of the reasons people bought my Clarity Call Cheatsheets was because they started working with a new client who had no idea who their best customers were.

This insight inspired me to add an exit popup to my sales page promoting our free Customer Ranking Scorecard.

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This popup converts at 10.4%. I send a short post-signup email sequence when people opt-in for the scorecard.

The results? 18% of people who download the scorecard end up buying the cheatsheets.

Understanding your customer’s trigger events help you to tell the right stories at the right time. Tools like Fairing make it easy.​
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💥 The Short of It

From childhood to adulthood, humans love stories.

Stories make it easier for us to remember, relate, and take action. We remember celebrities, brands, and products tied to stories.

Get attention while becoming more memorable by telling stories that intrigue your buyers.

​Until next time, happy selling.